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A BUEEAU 



OF 



HISTORICAL KESEARCH 



IN CONNECTION WITH 



THE CARNEdlE INSTITUTION 



BY 

ANDREW c. McLaughlin 




Reprinted from the April 1904 Number of 
THE IOWA JOURNAI, OF HISTORY AND POLITICS 

PUBI,ISHED AT lOWA CiTY lOWA BY 

The State Historicai, Society of'Iowa 








A BUREAU OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH 

The editor of The Journal has asked me to write a few words 
concerning the work and purposes of the Bureau of Historical Re- 
search which has been established at Washington in connection with 
the Carnegie Institution. In meeting this request it may be well to 
say first a word about the Institution itself. The reader will doubt- 
less remember that it was established two years ago — January, 1902 
— by Mr. Cai'negie, who gave a libei'al sum for its maintenance. 
The administration of the fund and the execution of the purposes of 
the trust were confided to a board of twenty-six trustees, of whom 
the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, and 
the Speaker of the House were to be members. The purpose of this 
grant was not to establish a college or university in any ordinary 
sense, but to promote original research, "to discover the exceptional 
man in every department of study, whenever and wherever found, 
inside or outside of schools, and enable him to make the work for 
which he seems specially designed his life work," and in other ways 
to promote investigation and scholarship. 

The ti'ustees appointed advisory committees of experts, asking 
from them recommendations as to the steps to be taken for the best 
promotion of work in their respective fields. The advisory com- 
mittee on history reported among other things the advisability of 
establishing an institute of historical research at Washington, not 
dissimilar to the French, Prussian, and Austrian institutes at Rome. 
The purpose of this institute would be to prepare first a report on 
the government archives, to edit for publication certain selected por- 
tions of the archives, to serve as a clearing house for the historical 
scholars in America and to facilitate their researches in Washing- 
ton, and, lastly, to provide suitable guidance and instruction for 
such advanced and highly competent gi'aduate students as should re- 



sort to it for that purpose. Partly to carry out these and other 
recommendations there has been established at Washington a Bureau 
of Histoi'ical Research. It is now difficult to say exactly what this 
may develop into or what its growth will be. As to this no one can 
say, because in some ways the Institution is as yet not fully deter- 
mined in all respects as to its policy and line of growth; it is now 
doing a gi'eat work in aiding research, but in some particulars its 
methods and plans are being allowed to develop as needs disclose 
themselves. The bureau has already proved of some service to his- 
torical investigators who have come to Washington for study. While 
the director of the bureau cannot know the archives thoroughly — as 
indeed no one can — he can genei'ally give some suggestion as to 
method of work. The director is also managing editor of the Amer- 
ican Historical Meview, and gives a portion of his time to his edito- 
rial duties. The personal connection between the Review and the 
Institution is helpful to the work of each. 

In the future it is likely that advanced students and investigators 
will come more and more frequently to Washington, and the bureau 
should form a center where historical scholars can gather and from 
which they can get at least the aid that comes from association with 
other investigators. It seems as if every student of American his- 
tory, every investigator who expects to teach should spend a portion 
of his time in Washington that he may know the government and 
have some knowledge of the collections of historical material. The 
bureau should be of service to those that come. 

At present the activities are chiefly these: — It has in pi-eparation a 
comprehensive guide to the archives of the government, which will 
be printed in the course of the next few months. This guide will 
not pretend to give detailed information of the millions of individual 
documents, but will describe collections, the work of departments, 
and divisions of the government, and the nature and accessibility of 
their archives. Under the direction of the bureau a somewhat simi- 
lar guide to American historical material in England is being pre- 
pared. To it will be added a list of papers in the British archives 



that refer to American liistoi-y and that are now to be found in print 
and also a list of such material now present in American libraries in 
the form of transcripts. This volume, it is hoped, will appear be- 
fore the end of this year. There is likewise in preparation a bibli- 
ography of books and and articles on American history for the year 
1903. This list when completed and annotated will form a substan- 
tial volume; and it is hoped that the work can be carried on in the 
future, thus giving to historical investigators an exhaustive bibliog- 
raphy of each succeeding year. 

In conclusion it may be said that the bureau is established with 
the purpose of being of use to scholars. Anything that can be done 
to bring the investigator and his material together is within the pur- 
view of its hopes even if beyond the possibility of present achieve- 
ment. 

A. C. McLaughlin 
Carnegie Institution 
Washington, D. C. 



